What's happened to Craigslist?

[jaxs]

I’ve seen more posts about peopl finding dogs on Nextdoor than anything else. I have never had that kind of luck finding dogs.

If your comment wasn't so painfully accurate,I would have to laugh. After 14 years,our 10 pound dog died over 18 months ago. I have searched animal shelters and adoption agencies for a replacement. The weeping and moaning over shelters overflowing is deceitful. More than half are pits or pit hybrids. The remaining half are large or old. The adoption fee for small mutts is $200 and up. "REGISTERED" desighner dogs (mix of two or more breeds) are $400 and up. Just for the **** of it,I've questioned who and where are mixed breeds registered. CRICKETS ! Pure breds are $800 and up. These are from puppy mills that are clueless about breed in question. Understandably,dogs from responsible breeders are far too expensive for pets. So those found dogs are mostly large and/or pits which have been abandoned in one fashion or other.

 

[4570Man]

Basically CL is an anonymous site that only requires login creds if you want to sell something or post on the forums etc...
It does not mine data from casual browsers and it does not have dozens and dozens of invasive data mining scripts running on its servers that infiltrate any device browsing it's pages like FB does...

The precise reason CL is loaded with scammers and marketplace has next to none . I’ll take whatever claimed negatives that I’ve yet to experience on FB vs all the garbage on CL.

 

[Sodo]

Why do people ask if you still have something if they have no intention of getting back in touch to inquire about buying it? Then there are the people that seem sincere, get your address, and never come or let you know they are not coming.

That's not "people asking if you still have it", it's a computer.

That's a computer program that sends inquiries to every "new" posting.
You get a slew of those the first 20 minutes, then it slows down.

If you respond to that inquiry, the computer then logs your email address into a list to sell to email spammers as a "verified, active email".
They dont respond back, because they have what they wanted - your active, verified email address.

The person running the program gets paid for each "verified email address" that he is able to harvest.
I don't know how much is paid for a "verified email address" but it can't be very much.
Consequently the "email harvesting apps" run nationwide, hassling millions of C/L posters.

These computers used to spoof your entire 'product name' (verbatim) that's how I knew it wasn't a real person.
Now they're sneakier, they somehow know how to excerpt the right word from your product description, so it's NOT verbatim
And they insert some text in their inquiry that looks like a real human, like "I'll be coming from ___nearby town__"

The key, I think is that the first hour after publishing your ad has much higher amounts of spambot responses. (Spam robots)

 

[two_bit_score]

If your comment wasn't so painfully accurate,I would have to laugh. After 14 years,our 10 pound dog died over 18 months ago. I have searched animal shelters and adoption agencies for a replacement. The weeping and moaning over shelters overflowing is deceitful. More than half are pits or pit hybrids. The remaining half are large or old. The adoption fee for small mutts is $200 and up. "REGISTERED" desighner dogs (mix of two or more breeds) are $400 and up. Just for the **** of it,I've questioned who and where are mixed breeds registered. CRICKETS ! Pure breds are $800 and up. These are from puppy mills that are clueless about breed in question. Understandably,dogs from responsible breeders are far too expensive for pets. So those found dogs are mostly large and/or pits which have been abandoned in one fashion or other.

I wonder if there is a scam of sorts working inside these shelters.

I saw a nice looking German Shepherd Dog that was found by somebody and posted on Next Door. They stated they had already taken the dog to the shelter.

I went to the shelter and asked to see the dog. I did not say it was my dog just that I knew they had the dog and would like to see it. They were very nice and took me back to see the dog. I could tell that the dog was someone’s pet. Very well behaved and looked very forlorn to be inside that cage. For a second I seriously considered just claiming he was my dog, paying his fine and taking him home right there.

But I couldn’t bring myself to lie and just asked when I could adopt him. That’s when they recognized I wasn’t the owner and rushed me out of that area. They said I wasn’t supposed to see the dog if I wasn’t the owner. What kind of sense does that make?? If I had lost a dog how would I know they didn’t have my dog unless I looked at him?

They gave me some blah-blah and in the process some comment slipped about a ‘rescue group’. Why would they need to send him to a ‘rescue group’ if I was ready to rescue him as soon as the time limit ran on the owner coming by to claim him?

We had some more conversation that was pleasant enough but never totally made sense except that they were pretty determined this dog was going to a ‘rescue group’ and the fee from that group was going to be substantially higher than just a normal adoption fee.

I saw a post where one lady said she was just driving down the road and saw a dog that jus “jumped right in her car” when she opened the door. She had a picture of the dog in the car and was taking it to the shelter right then. What the heck?

Really makes me wonder about all these Next Door posts about people finding dogs. But I am suspicious by nature.



TBS

 

[goeduck]

I went to the shelter and asked to see the dog. I did not say it was my dog just that I knew they had the dog and would like to see it. They were very nice and took me back to see the dog. I could tell that the dog was someoneç—´ pet. Very well behaved and looked very forlorn to be inside that cage. For a second I seriously considered just claiming he was my dog, paying his fine and taking him home right there.

But I couldn稚 bring myself to lie and just asked when I could adopt him. That痴 when they recognized I wasn稚 the owner and rushed me out of that area. They said I wasn稚 supposed to see the dog if I wasn稚 the owner. What kind of sense does that make?? If I had lost a dog how would I know they didn稚 have my dog unless I looked at him?

What you did was similar to acting as if you were the parent of a lost child and allowed to visit a child that was not yours. The proper thing to do would be to tell them upfront that you were not the owner and not go in on false pretenses. People going to the shelter to view a dog are assumed to have lost their dog and you should have told them you did not. I am sure they would have kept your contact if the owner was not able to be found. If my dog ended up in a shelter and someone claimed it was their dog, paid a fee and took it home begpforemI could get there, I would be beyond pissed.

 

[two_bit_score]

What you did was similar to acting as if you were the parent of a lost child and allowed to visit a child that was not yours. The proper thing to do would be to tell them upfront that you were not the owner and not go in on false pretenses. People going to the shelter to view a dog are assumed to have lost their dog and you should have told them you did not. I am sure they would have kept your contact if the owner was not able to be found. If my dog ended up in a shelter and someone claimed it was their dog, paid a fee and took it home begpforemI could get there, I would be beyond pissed.

You seem to have a lot of problems with folks.

 

[goeduck]

You seem to have a lot of problems with folks.

With those under false pretense, yes I do.

 

[two_bit_score]

With those under false pretense, yes I do.

It’s the anti cop bias in you isn’t it? Projecting your weirdo thoughts?

People go in animal shelters to view dogs all the time. Nothing I did was under false pretense.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Perhaps a bit off topic, but I've found animal shelters to be a very good thing. Last year we lost our 2 toy Rat Terriers and our Maine Coon cat. So we visited our county animal shelter a few times to view those that had been rescued. We did find a nice little terrier mix breed last month. The animal shelter charged us $40 total - and that included neutering, all shots, all follow up booster shots, and the ID chip. Other commercial firms would have charged a great deal over $200 for that; probably in the $400 range.

So, in my opinion, I highly favor animal shelters. And yes, I do make donations to them when I can. On the other hand, what I've found on CL is that those listing animals for "re-homing" always have a "re-homing fee" amounting to a purchase price for the animal. That's a mighty slimy way of saying that they're selling the animal. And with that "re-homing fee", you get nothing. No health warranty, no assurance of the breed - nada, zilch. Pot luck is what you get. CL should inforce their ban of no-pets for sale policy.

 

[two_bit_score]

Perhaps a bit off topic, but I've found animal shelters to be a very good thing. Last year we lost our 2 toy Rat Terriers and our Maine Coon cat. So we visited our county animal shelter a few times to view those that had been rescued. We did find a nice little terrier mix breed last month. The animal shelter charged us $40 total - and that included neutering, all shots, all follow up booster shots, and the ID chip. Other commercial firms would have charged a great deal over $200 for that; probably in the $400 range.

So, in my opinion, I highly favor animal shelters. And yes, I do make donations to them when I can. On the other hand, what I've found on CL is that those listing animals for "re-homing" always have a "re-homing fee" amounting to a purchase price for the animal. That's a mighty slimy way of saying that they're selling the animal. And with that "re-homing fee", you get nothing. No health warranty, no assurance of the breed - nada, zilch. Pot luck is what you get. CL should inforce their ban of no-pets for sale policy.

I agree completely with most of what you said. I’ve gotten the impression that some shelters may have arrangements with some rescue outfits to funnel desirable dogs over to the rescue outfit for some reason. It seems the fee goes up pretty much when the animal goes through a rescue outfit.

Another incident occurred with a shelter with my Wife. She had gone to a shelter to look at cats for adoption. She looked at the paperwork and decided against adopting from them because the paperwork stated the shelter personnel were allowed onto your property at any time in order to check on the welfare of the adopted animal. No way was she agreeing to that.

As she was leaving another lady was entering with a box of two kittens she intended to surrender to the shelter. When my wife asked to look at them the lady readily agreed. The wife said she would take the two kittens. When the shelter worker overheard that he tried to tell these two ladies that they couldn’t have a private exchange at the shelter. That my wife was still going to have to pay the adoption fee.

They both looked at each other, laughed at him and stepped outside whereupon wife took the two kittens and they both left.

TBS

 

[Jstpssng]

I stopped into the local shelter when I was between dogs and was just thinking about getting another. It was my first and last time inside one; the people running it were so unfriendly that I will never go back... and I never did see a dog. Most of the animals up here are mutts from shelters in southern states. The only dog that I'm interested in is a Lab; I like their dispositions,want a dog that can go all day in the woods with me, is good in the water, isn't afraid of gunshots and can retrieve birds.

Around here there is never a shortage of free kittens, I'm always driving past places with signs out... often the same houses over and over again. Every time that I see a sign that says "Free Kittens" I can't help thinking that each kitten should come with another "free kittens" sign.

 

[YanmarFever]

Back to Craigs List....

I listed 52 items for sale over the last month and sold 48 of them. (Im down sizing)

I had 4 items for free, and those are the ones that I had trouble with people showing up.

All the others, no problem at all, I even sold my green house, and they came out and dismantled it and hauled it away.

Craigs list is OK if you know how to handle the scammers which are everywhere these days.

 

[dfkrug]

I listed 52 items for sale over the last month and sold 48 of them. (Im down sizing)

I had 4 items for free, and those are the ones that I had trouble with people showing up.

You go, Ernie!

You are right the free stuff is the toughest: no-shows, especially. It does not bother me, since I arrange visits to meet MY schedule.

I recently gave away a set of 4 noisy car tires with 35% tread left. The young woman who picked them up was very happy, and I don't have to pay for recycling them.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Perhaps a bit off topic, but I've found animal shelters to be a very good thing. Last year we lost our 2 toy Rat Terriers and our Maine Coon cat. So we visited our county animal shelter a few times to view those that had been rescued. We did find a nice little terrier mix breed last month. The animal shelter charged us $40 total - and that included neutering, all shots, all follow up booster shots, and the ID chip. Other commercial firms would have charged a great deal over $200 for that; probably in the $400 range.

So, in my opinion, I highly favor animal shelters. And yes, I do make donations to them when I can. On the other hand, what I've found on CL is that those listing animals for "re-homing" always have a "re-homing fee" amounting to a purchase price for the animal. That's a mighty slimy way of saying that they're selling the animal. And with that "re-homing fee", you get nothing. No health warranty, no assurance of the breed - nada, zilch. Pot luck is what you get. CL should inforce their ban of no-pets for sale policy.

Around here the SPCA runs the animal shelter and twice in the past 15 years I’ve contacted them when time came we wanted a cat. They want 400 to $1000 to adopt a cat, plus at least one home visit from them prior and sign a contract you will take it for regular check ups and mortgage your house if it becomes ill.

I’m all for helping animals and would have been happy to give even an older cat a safe home for the rest of its ‘reasonable’ remaining days but I’m not paying that kind of money to up front and when it’s too sick I’m not dropping 5k or more to prolong its suffering. Every time we got a free or cheap cat from CL or something similar and they lived long comfortable lives but no argument the majority of ads were a little shady - we managed to filter those out and find legit people who just needed to give their animal up to a good home.

Seems the people in charge there these days are a bunch of animal rights nutbars and want everyone else indoctrinated the same way. They regularly have feel good stories in the local papers about how they spent 10 or $20k on an injured animal and a couple weeks later another story where they are desperate for donations to buy food for the remaining animals to avoid having to euthanize them.

 

[aczlan]

Around here the SPCA runs the animal shelter and twice in the past 15 years I’ve contacted them when time came we wanted a cat. They want 400 to $1000 to adopt a cat, plus at least one home visit from them prior and sign a contract you will take it for regular check ups and mortgage your house if it becomes ill.

I’m all for helping animals and would have been happy to give even an older cat a safe home for the rest of its ‘reasonable’ remaining days but I’m not paying that kind of money to up front and when it’s too sick I’m not dropping 5k or more to prolong its suffering. Every time we got a free or cheap cat from CL or something similar and they lived long comfortable lives but no argument the majority of ads were a little shady - we managed to filter those out and find legit people who just needed to give their animal up to a good home.

Exactly. We have had a parade of cats, some lived long lives, some lived short lives (birth defect), others were stupid to run in front of a car going 55MPH...
I don't think we have paid anything for any of them. All got their shots, were spayed or neutered and had a comfortable life here until it was clear that they were in pain and there wasn't anything that we could do to help it go away other than have the vet put them down.

Aaron Z

 

[two_bit_score]

Back to Craigs List....

I listed 52 items for sale over the last month and sold 48 of them. (Im down sizing)

I had 4 items for free, and those are the ones that I had trouble with people showing up.

All the others, no problem at all, I even sold my green house, and they came out and dismantled it and hauled it away.

Craigs list is OK if you know how to handle the scammers which are everywhere these days.

Did you have any free kittens or free dogs?

 

[two_bit_score]

I stopped into the local shelter when I was between dogs and was just thinking about getting another. It was my first and last time inside one; the people running it were so unfriendly that I will never go back... and I never did see a dog. Most of the animals up here are mutts from shelters in southern states. The only dog that I'm interested in is a Lab; I like their dispositions,want a dog that can go all day in the woods with me, is good in the water, isn't afraid of gunshots and can retrieve birds.

Around here there is never a shortage of free kittens, I'm always driving past places with signs out... often the same houses over and over again. Every time that I see a sign that says "Free Kittens" I can't help thinking that each kitten should come with another "free kittens" sign.

Around here the SPCA runs the animal shelter and twice in the past 15 years I’ve contacted them when time came we wanted a cat. They want 400 to $1000 to adopt a cat, plus at least one home visit from them prior and sign a contract you will take it for regular check ups and mortgage your house if it becomes ill.

I’m all for helping animals and would have been happy to give even an older cat a safe home for the rest of its ‘reasonable’ remaining days but I’m not paying that kind of money to up front and when it’s too sick I’m not dropping 5k or more to prolong its suffering. Every time we got a free or cheap cat from CL or something similar and they lived long comfortable lives but no argument the majority of ads were a little shady - we managed to filter those out and find legit people who just needed to give their animal up to a good home.

Seems the people in charge there these days are a bunch of animal rights nutbars and want everyone else indoctrinated the same way. They regularly have feel good stories in the local papers about how they spent 10 or $20k on an injured animal and a couple weeks later another story where they are desperate for donations to buy food for the remaining animals to avoid having to euthanize them.

Somehow or other money must be at the root cause of this behavior on the part of shelter operators.



TBS

 

[Cat_Driver]

I've used CL for years still as good as ever. Of course the price needs to be right and when I say right I mean cheap.
Don't think you'll get what you item is worth selling it. At the same token there are people selling items like utility trailers 5 years old for what you can purchase THE SAME THING and I mean brand and model new for nearly the same ptrice.
CL has always had scam artists but the thing with them is they never change their Modus operandi and can be spotted a mile away, just never answer their e-mail.

 

[JakeLS]

I have been scouring craigslist for a used back blade and box blade for well over a month. Nothing (reasonable, and in reasonable driving distance). I believe most of the sales in my area have moved to FB marketplace. I had FB for several years and finally got away from it 4 years ago. Though I do miss the marketplace, I wont be going back.
I do think I see far fewer obvious scammer ads now than I did a couple of years ago. It used to be overrun with them. now I only see a few.

 

[dfkrug]

I have been scouring craigslist for a used back blade and box blade for well over a month.

Any box scraper listed around here for a reasonable price will be gone in hours. What's "reasonable"? Under $500-600 and not all worn out.

You just have to be patient, monitor CL every day, then pounce when one gets listed. No waiting for the weekend.